page_title: South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
section_title: Flora and fauna
hierarchical_section_title: South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands / Flora and fauna
caption_attribution_description: English: Durvillaea antarctica at Cooper Bay, South Georgia
context_page_description: South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is a British Overseas Territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote and inhospitable collection of islands, consisting of South Georgia and a chain of smaller islands known as the South Sandwich Islands. South Georgia is 165 kilometres long and 35 kilometres wide and is by far the largest island in the territory. The South Sandwich Islands lie about 700 kilometres southeast of South Georgia. The territory's total land area is 3,903 km². The Falkland Islands are about 1,300 kilometres west-northwest from its nearest point.
  No permanent native population lives in the South Sandwich Islands, and a very small non-permanent population resides on South Georgia. There are no scheduled passenger flights or ferries to or from the territory, although visits by cruise liners to South Georgia are increasingly popular, with several thousand visitors each summer.
  The United Kingdom claimed sovereignty over South Georgia in 1775 and the South Sandwich Islands in 1908. The territory of "South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands" was formed in 1985; previously, it had been governed as part of the Falkland Islands Dependencies.
caption: Durvillaea antarctica southern bull kelp growing at Cooper Bay, South Georgia Island
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